The conventional wire cutting and stripping and terminal attaching apparatus acts to automatically cut an insulated wire into predetermined lengths, strip the insulation from the ends of the wire and the cut length and apply an electrical terminal to one or both of the stripped ends of the wire and the cut length.
The typical wire cutting and stripping apparatus includes a cutting and stripping unit composed of a pair of cooperating cutting blades bordered on each side by a pair of stripping blades. The insulated wire is fed axially by a feeding unit to the cutting and stripping unit and on operation of the cutting and stripping unit, the cutting blades act to sever the wire and provide a cut length, while the stripping blades cut the insulation on either side of the severed end. Grippers then grip the wire, as well as the cut length, and move the wire and cut length axially in opposite directions to strip a slug of insulation from the end of the wire, as well as from the corresponding end of the cut length.
In the conventional unit, the grippers then rotate or pivot horizontally to position the stripped end of the wire, as well as the stripped end of the cut length, in corresponding terminal attaching units, where an electrical terminal is applied to the stripped end of the wire and to the cut length. After attachment of the terminals, the grippers pivot back to their original position and the cut length is then discharged from the machine, while the wire is advanced axially to repeat the cutting and stripping operation.
There are two basic types of terminals that are applied to the stripped end of the wire. One being an open barrel terminal, and the other a closed barrel terminal. An open barrel terminal is generally U-shaped in cross section and the stripped end of the wire is moved downwardly into the open barrel for crimping. A closed barrel terminal is generally cylindrical in configuration and the stripped end of the wire is moved axially into the closed barrel for crimping.
When using open barrel terminals, the gripper positions the stripped end of the wire slightly above the terminal which is supported on an anvil or lower die member. An upper die member is movable toward and away from the anvil and acts to crimp the terminal on the stripped wire end. Because the wire is positioned above the terminal by the gripper, a wire positioning member, sometimes referred to as a "tonker", is mounted on the upper die member and is arranged to contact the gripper and push the wire downwardly into the open barrel terminal before the upper die member acts to crimp the terminal on the stripped wire end.
In the past, the typical wire positioning member has taken the form of a fixed, or a resilient member such as a spring, that is mounted on the upper die member in position to engage the gripper and move the wire downwardly as the upper die member is lowered.
It is frequently necessary to change the wire processing program from open barrel terminals to closed barrel terminals. The grippers can be programmed to change movement to conform to open and closed barrel termination, but when changing from open barrel termination to closed barrel termination, it is necessary to remove the wire positioning member from the upper die member. The wire positioning member, if left in position on the upper die member during closed barrel termination, would engage the gripper and correspondingly move the wire held by the gripper out of axial alignment with the closed barrel terminal. Accordingly, it has been necessary to manually remove the wire positioning member from the upper die member when changing from open barrel to closed barrel termination. This not only requires the labor and downtime for removal of the wire positioning member, but also requires that the wire positioning member be recalibrated when it is reattached to the machine for open barrel termination.